HOUSE FY14 APPROPS BILL UPS FOSSIL R&D BUDGET ABOVE REQUEST

$450 Million Allocation Still Less Than Program’s Post-Sequester Budget

Tamar Hallerman
GHG Monitor
6/21/13

House Appropriators are looking to boost the proposed budget for the Department of Energy’s Fossil Energy R&D program to $450 million for Fiscal Year 2014, a $30 million increase above the White House’s request but a reduction from the program’s currently enacted funding levels. The House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee approved this week its version of the FY 2014 Energy and Water Appropriations bill, which sets aside $450 million for Fossil Energy R&D, about a 7 percent increase above the White House FY 2014 request of $420.58 million. The bill would direct about a quarter of that funding for FE program direction but provides few other specifics. The House bill is about $58 million below the program’s currently-enacted, post-sequester budget, Subcommittee Chair Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.) said during this week’s markup hearing. He indicated that the measure could be considered by the full House Appropriations Committee as early as next week.

While the Fossil Energy R&D account took a hit in the House bill, it was not targeted nearly as hard as some of DOE’s other applied programs, which took the brunt of the bill’s deep budget cuts, about $1.4 billion across all programs compared to pre-sequester FY2013 levels. The bill focuses most of their reductions on DOE’s renewable energy, efficiency and reliability programs. The measure sets aside $1 billion for those programs, roughly a 50 percent cut compared to FY2013 enacted levels. The bill also would significantly reduce funding for DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy program, providing only $50 million for ARPA-E, an 81 percent decrease below FY 2013 enacted levels, a surprise given that many Republicans have touted the program’s unique, high-impact R&D focus in the past.

‘Lower Priority Programs’

In a statement, House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) said the bill “prioritizes funding for energy programs that encourage U.S. economic competitiveness and growth, and that help advance the nation’s goal of an all of the above solution to energy independence.” The measure allocates $30.4 billion across all federal energy and water programs, a $700 million cut below the programs’ post-sequester budgets and more than $4 billion beneath the White House request. Ahead of the subcommittee vote earlier this week, Frelinghuysen said the proposed cuts to DOE’s applied energy programs reflect tough budget choices will likely shift more energy research to the private sector. “The recommendation prioritizes funding in this area for programs which support American manufacturing jobs and stable energy prices,” he said.

The top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, though, criticized the bill’s cuts to applied energy programs, particularly those targeted at the Obama Administration’s renewable energy and efficiency priorities. “With global carbon emissions at record highs and extreme weather events caused by global warming happening with increased frequency and deadly force, I see no justification for such drastic cuts to investments in renewable energy that decrease our carbon footprint,” Ranking Member Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) said. She also criticized budget cuts to ARPA-E and the DOE’s Office of Science. Trimming funding there, she said, “will jeopardize our global leadership in developing cutting edge technologies. Our economy will be at a disadvantage to capitalize on the benefits of 21st century discoveries, ceding breakthroughs in areas like clean energy to China.” Subcommittee Ranking Member Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) said the overall $30.4 billion figure for energy and water programs “is simply too small to adequately address the needs of our nation.” “Arresting America’s future energy security is not a wise course. It is not visionary and it will not restore our path to independence in the face of stiff competition from our foreign competitors,” Kaptur said during this week’s hearing, referring to the bill’s cuts to applied energy programs.

Democrats have objected to the overall $30.4 billion figure because they reject to the top-line discretionary funding level set by House Republicans of $967 billion. The Senate, controlled by Democrats, is working under a discretionary funding ceiling of $1.058 trillion for Fiscal Year 2014, the level agreed to by the President and Congressional Republicans during 2011 debt ceiling negotiations. Energy and water programs are expected to fare better across the board in that measure, which is expected to be unveiled next week ahead of a June 25 Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing. Full Committee Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) announced a $34.77 billion top-line spending level for all federal energy and water programs for the Senate version of the bill June 20. The White House has issued a blanket veto threat of all appropriations bills that adhere to the $967 billion funding limit.